The next step
by Morelli
Summary: Another take on what happens after the end of series three, revolving mainly around Abby and Connor. I plan to take this story a lot further and ratings will definatley change
1. Finding Danny

Abby was sure the stupid branch was giving her splinters in her backside. She'd never been so uncomfortable in her life, half lying down, and half leaning against her backpack on a forty-foot-high tree branch. She hadn't slept at all during the night, but she kept her eyes closed all the same, not wanting to open them and accept where she was and what had happened in the last twenty four hours. There were no sounds in the forest at the moment, except for the light rustling of leaves in the canopy above, and Connor's loud snoring at the other end of the branch.

Connor's snoring suddenly turned to an audible groan and Abby felt his foot press against her as he stretched himself awake. She fought back a smile and did her best impression of being annoyed by slapping him on his shin. This plan backfired however, when Connor groaned again and cursed very loudly.

"Abbyyy! That's my gammy ankle!"

She sat up instantly with a look of horror on her face. "Sorry Connor, I forgot!"

"Ow ow ow owwww, Abby it hurts"

"Pull your trouser leg up and let me take a look"

He immediately did as he was told and Abby saw his ankle and swollen quite considerably in the night. She blew very gently on her fingers to cool them down and placed them ever so gently on his leg.

"Oh god Abby that's good"

She failed to hide a smirk at his reaction, "Err, thanks, I guess." She quickly turned away to rid herself of the giggles.

"What're you laughing at Abby?"

"Oh nothing, nothing." She coughed loudly to calm down quickly. "Well Con, I don't think it's broken. Maybe you've just torn a ligament or something. It'll be alright if you walk on it."

"And since when did you turn into an ankle specialist?"

"Since when I started working at a zoo, idiot. Anyway, seen as were both up we should go and find Danny and a way back home."

"Yeah, 'course. Can we have some breakfast first though? I'm quite hungry"

Being extremely hungry herself, Abby only hesitated a moment. "Fine. What've you got in your pack?"

He took a few minutes to rifle through his over packed bag. He had to hand Abby quite a few weapons and spare torches before he found two packets of crisps and a bottle of water.

"Not exactly energy food, is it Connor?"

"Well, I don't really like the way energy food tastes. Like, all cardboardy and stuff, so I swapped them before we left."

"Excellent Connor, well done"

"Well I didn't know we'd be stuck here, did I?"

"Guess not. Well pass one here, I'll have the cheese and onion thanks."

They spent the next five minutes eating Connor's measly rations before starting the slow climb down the tree. It took them a full half hour to do this as Connor kept having to stop and cry, although he claimed it was 'just to massage his ankle'. Abby said nothing, knowing he was probably in a lot of pain, and just helped him through the difficult bits.

Once they reached the safety of the ground, Connor took a few tentative steps and smiled.

"S'abit sore but I'll mange"

Abby looked around the floor beneath them before finding a sizeable stick he could use as a crutch.

"That should help"

"Wicked, it's like a wizard's staff"

"Connor, you watch too much geeky TV"

"Well you watch too many girly films"

They began walking in the direction Danny had left in last night and kept up the small talk for a while. It was light and easy and first but an uncomfortable silence grew between them, having nothing light and happy to talk about. They walked slowly onwards all the time, occasionally asking each other the time or for some water until a question popped up in Abby's mind.

"Connor?"

"Abs?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something for while, and you know, there isn't much to talk about right now unless you consider whether or not we'll get home good conversation, and-"

"Abby, your starting to babble on like me"

"Yeah, sorry, it's just, you know, the worry and all-"

"Abby! What's the question?"

"Ok erm, you know when you rescued me from the mer from the future, and you said… you said you loved me?"

Connor swallowed nervously before nodding. "Yeah, I remember"

"Well when I asked you about it later you were going to say something but Caroline interrupted, yeah?"

"Yeah, and you want to know what I was going to say, right?"

"…yes please Connor"

He stopped walking and stared at the ground while he considered his answer. He gave himself a little nod before walking again.

"Well, at the time I didn't really know what I was going to say, I just knew what I wanted to say. Get it?" Abby didn't get it at all, but Connor continued anyway. "Well what I wanted to tell you was that-"

Suddenly there was a loud squawking noise overhead and both Connor and Abby ducked. They hadn't realised that they'd walked into clearing with large bird like things circling overhead. Abby quickly looked around the clearing. There were a few clusters of eggs, no doubt belonging to the birds circling above, and the leaves littering the floor looked recently disturbed, looking like they'd been kicked everywhere.

"Abby!" Connor had crawled a few feet away and was whispering at her as loudly as possible. "Abby, Helens been through here, look!" He held up her anomaly controller and waved it around happily. "They must have gone through an anomaly in this clearing."

"Yeah maybe. Can you turn it on?"

He fiddled around with the buttons and Abby saw a familiar gold glow coming from the screen. Connor pressed some more buttons causing the anomaly map to move madly, and Connor to look up in triumph.

"There is an anomaly opening here, and I'd bet my life savings it goes to site 333!"

"Well, open the anomaly then!"

"Oh yeah, right" he pushed a couple more buttons and the glistening familiar presence of an anomaly appeared within the centre of the clearing. The large birds overhead had noticed the twinkling lights below and started circling lower and lower, making sure their eggs were safe.

"Abby were gonna have to make a run for it"

"What about your ankle?"

"I'll be able to run ten feet, don't worry"

"Okay, on the count of three. One… two… three, go!"

They both sprinted and dived through the anomaly, the squawks of angry prehistoric birds close behind them. Abby landed well on the other side and rolled to a stop. Connor however, landed with a loud crack on his already dodgy ankle and cried out in agony.

"Connor! The anomaly!"

He pressed the button on the controller angrily, closing the anomaly instantly, before screaming out in pain again. Abby crawled over to look at the damage caused. She flinched at the site of what was a very broken ankle.

"Hold still Connor, I'm going to go and find Danny so we can get you home and to a doctor, okay!"

He clenched his teeth and nodded painfully, before slowly pushing himself up against a nearby rock. He leant against it and closed his eyes, his face turning a sickly green colour. Abby turned around and looked for any sign of where Danny might have gone. There was a trail of shoe prints on the floor leading toward a few large rocks in a copse of trees not far away. She ran the entire distance and found Danny asleep in the shade of the trees. It took a while to shake him awake but he eventually groaned and opened his eyes groggily.

"Come on Danny, wake up mate."

"What? Abby is that you? Where's Connor"

"He broke his ankle coming through the anomaly; I'm surprised you didn't hear him screaming"

"I'm a deep sleeper. We should get going if he needs medical attention." He stood up a swung his bag upon his back. "Wait a minute. How did you get here, the anomaly closed yesterday afternoon?"

"We found Helen's anomaly controller. We can use it to get back to the prehistoric, then the future and then home."

"Cant we find a more direct route?"

"If there was one Helen would have used it to get here in the first place."

"Good point. Let's go get Connor and get out of here."

Connor was still leaning against the rock by where the anomaly opened up, his face more green than before and his eyes still closed. Abby leant down and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her.

"Connor, you have to find us a way home, and you're going to have to walk with us, okay? We need to get you back to a doctor."

He nodded and swallowed apprehensively and placed his hands on the floor ready to stand up.

"Wait, give me a moment!"

Danny ran back towards the trees and came back with two long, almost perfectly straight, branches. He placed them either side of Connors ankle and pulled a roll of bandaging out his back pack. He tied the bandaging around Connors leg and the sticks to create a makeshift cast. He then pulled Connor to his feet.

Connor didn't cry out in pain but winced as he took a few short steps. He still looked very green and like he was about to collapse at any moment.

"You're going to have to use Abby for support okay Connor?" he nodded slowly at Danny's instructions. "Good. Now can you open this anomaly for us Connor?" Connor nodded again and fiddled with the controller. The anomaly flickered to life once again and they heard the screechy squawk of he birds beyond.

"We're going to have to quick through here okay guys. I'll go first with a gun; you follow and head straight for cover, yeah?"

"Danny, try not to shoot anything please!"

"I'll try and fire warning shots to keep them at bay alright? After I've gone through count to five and follow after me. See you on the other side."

Danny quickly jumped through the anomaly and the screeching reached a new height. They heard a few gunshots and Abby tried her hardest to keep calm, count to five and hold Connor all the same time.

"One… two… three… four… five… Connor lets move."

And they stumbled through the anomaly as quickly as they could manage.


	2. Finding Home

It's been a hectic few days, trying to get this written. It took me a whole hour to write one paragraph because my brain went completely dead. I also looked through the last chapter and found loads of spelling and punctuation mistakes which made me groan. Please, if you notice mistakes like that, tell me, I'm really trying to improve my writing skills. Anyway, here is chapter two, enjoy! Thank you to all who have reviewed the first chapter so far.

--

This time when he jumped through the anomaly, Connor managed to land firmly on his feet, despite landing in a whole world of chaos. He was dimly aware of Danny shooting upwards somewhere to the left of him and of Abby on his right, helping to support his weight as he ran toward the cover of the trees. They very carefully dived into a bush and waited for Danny to stop playing the hero, which always took a while. Suddenly there was a soft flump beside him as Danny managed to land on top of Abby.

"OW, for god's sake Danny!"

"Well it's hard to aim you're landing when you jump in a bush." He pushed himself up and looked around carefully. "Those birds have gone, and don't worry Abby, I didn't shoot one"

"Want a medal?"

"Don't worry, I'm good thanks."

Danny was now on his feet, brushing off his clothes and preparing to start walking. He sniggered at Abby's sarcastic comment and starting walking in the direction Abby and Connor had arrived in not long before. Connor slowly turned to look at Abby, who seemed to be giving him the strangest little smirk and her eyes kept flicking up to his hair.

"Abby, what are you…?"

She stretched a hand out to his head and produced a leaf from his head. Connor felt himself smirk as well and they both laughed for the first time in hours. The laughter turned to hysterics as they finally felt themselves relax a little, and the stress started to leave them.

"There're more leaves up there you know."

"You're a bit leafy looking as well to be honest"

She picked up a handful of dead leaves off the floor and poured them over his head. "Well you're the leafiest, you're practically a tree." They laughed again and a small leaf fight ensued until Danny's voice rang out from the distance.

"Oi, come on you two, we need to get moving!"

"He's right, Con. Back to reality. Want a hand up?"

"Hell yeah, as if I can get up on my own"

Connor felt himself marvel at how strong Abby proved to be as she pulled him roughly from the ground. He made a mental note never to get on the wrong side of her, just in case. They walked at a slow pace someway behind Danny, and it meant Connor could hobble along on his own, though he did miss having his arm around Abby, just a little bit. They were back to talking happily and teasing each other lightly. Getting Danny back and getting Helens anomaly opener had both been very good omens.

After a little while of walking separately from Danny, he turned and waited for them to catch up. He gave them a small smile before falling into pace beside them. Connor considered him curiously for a moment before questioning his motives.

"Why'd you wait for us to catch up?"

"Well we're a team, we should walk together."

"You weren't before."

"True, but I am now."

"What's up Danny, something's clearly wrong." Abby was peering around Connor to better see Danny as she questioned him too.

"What's with the twenty questions, guys?"

"Can't we be worried about you Danny?"

"'Course you can, but, there's nothing wrong, I just needed to think a bit, that's all"

"About what?"

"Just stuff, okay! Look, I don't want to talk about it right now, and we're nearing the anomaly site, so have you still got Helens thing?"

"Of course, this is Connor you're speaking to, Connor doesn't loose things"

"Don't speak about yourself in the third person Connor, and yes you do loose things, so you better check."

"Abby, have a little faith, it's in my pocket." He got the device out and waved it in front of her face, just to rub it in a little that he was right for once, though when he almost dropped it, he decided he probably shouldn't goat so much in the future.

"Let's get to the anomaly site then."

"Keep up Connor."

"I've been keeping up for ages, why would now be any different?"

"Im just saying, alright!"

It didn't take long to reach the anomaly site that would lead them to the future, and they decided to rest for a while before heading through, knowing that there were a lot more dangers on the other side than were now. The recent gunshots seemed to have scared all the creatures away as nothing bothered while they finished off their measly rations. Connors ankle started to tingle annoyingly under his bandage, he distracted himself by walking around and clearing away any trace they'd left behind, listening to Abby and Danny talk tactics.

"Maybe I should go through on my own and get some back up-"

"And get killed on the way, meaning we've got no way home because you took the anomaly controller. Yeah, excellent idea Danny."

"Well-"

"I mean I could go through with you, we'd be able to make it back together, but I for one am not up to leaving Connor here, alone, with a broken ankle, in the middle of a prehistoric forest full of raptors that would just love to eat him."

"Then-"

"No Danny. We need to go through together, it's the only way we can all have a chance of getting home safely."

"But-"

"No buts Danny. We go together."

"Fine. You ready Connor?"

"Err, yeah, I'll just get the controller."

He opened the anomaly as quickly as possible, not wanting to anger either Abby or Danny, sensing they were both in a tetchy mood. He closed the anomaly just as quickly as he'd opened it while the other two produced silenced weapons from their packs, readying themselves for the last step of the journey and searching the room around them.

It was completely untouched from the day before, with the shattered remains of the artefact all over the floor. Connor gathered it up silently, unnoticed by the others, and stored it in his back pack, along with all the other future technology he could fit in there with it. Suddenly, the room was flooded with light, and he was caught like a deer in headlights. Abby and Danny could do nothing but look on fearfully from the dark alcoves of the room as Connor was trapped by the light.

Then the light lowered and he could make out the faint outline of about four people looking straight at him.

"You alright there Connor?" It was Becker. Connor let out a bark of relieved laughter as everyone lowered their weapons.

"We saw a flash of light. We knew it was an anomaly but we couldn't be sure who had come through."

"Don't worry Becker. Helen's dead. All we have to worry about now are predators."

"We've sorted that problem actually. We flushed the out with sonic grenades then set up stereos far away from here. Were playing the hits of the eighty's at full volume, just to confuse them."

"They'll just love the birdie song." Everyone chuckled, even Becker, which was an extremely rare site.

"Hey Becker, where's Sarah?"

"Manning the anomaly locking device. She'll open it up in five minutes time, and I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Lets head out then."

They made for the exit of the ARC facility, not worrying about their noise levels as the coast should be clear. Connor could hear music is the distance as they made down the main street with the rusted cars. He had to admit it had been a great idea, who ever had come up with it, probably Sarah.

The anomaly was still locked when they reached it and they crouched as they waited for the next two minutes to pass. Connors leg tingled violently as he crouched by the entrance to an old building. He had an odd feeling on the back his neck, like he was being watched, and he turned to convince himself nothing was there.

Breath left his lungs as he saw a predator about ten metres from them, its head moving madly from side to side, confused by the drum beat of the music and their heartbeats. He squeaked in both pain and fear, giving the predator a new target to lock on to. It ran straight for Connor and he tried to scream but his voice was lost as the creature dived straight at him. A gun shot rang out from Becker's gun a moment too late as Connor felt the predator's claws scratch his chest and his cheek.

He was on fire. Hot blood was pouring down his face as he lay by the side of the predator, now limp and lifeless, and his body felt like it was burning with pain. Suddenly he felt his body being lifted from the floor and carried through bright light, the familiar bright light of an anomaly, before being placed on the floor again.

He opened his eyes to see fluorescent lights against a cold grey ceiling, and Abby, her worried face peering into his as she watched him slip further into unconsciousness, trying her hardest to keep him awake. She was shaking him, and she was saying something, but he couldn't tell what it was, he just watched her face before his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell deep asleep.


	3. Author Note

Author note

Hi, thank you for all the constructive reviews I received so far. It's like Christmas has come early every time I see a review in my inbox. And thank you to everyone who added this story as a favourite, I couldn't believe it when I saw people had done that!

Unfortunately, my life has gotten pretty hectic at the moment and it's going to be a while before I can update again. I know where the story is going to go; I just can't find the time to write it. I apologise sincerely and hope you can all hang on a little while longer.

Thanks

Morelli


	4. Back to work

Finally, I've gotten around to writing this. Thanks for all the support and hopefully I'll be better at updating from now on.

**

Your name can be said in many ways during your lifetime. In can be cried out in joy or screamed in despair. It can be used to ask a question or to answer another. It can be said by a friend, a relative, an enemy, a lover, or a long lost acquaintance who has just found you again. But today, Abby's name was mumbled by a sleeping Connor, and it barely registered against his loud snores.

He'd been asleep for two days now. As a result of his injuries he'd gone into shock, and that could make you sleep, a lot. But being Connor, he seemed to sleep rather more than the average shock victim. Abby had prepared herself for this when she decided to sit by his side until he woke up; curling up in a musty old armchair and watching him sleep to pass the time away.

She had no idea what had compelled her to sit here, with her head on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs just watching him sleep, but she knew she couldn't leave. He'd mumbled her name three times now, and that was just in the last few hours, so that had to mean he would wake up soon. Right?

After another hour of mumbles and snores, Abby decided this was in fact wrong and that Connor would probably sleep a lot longer yet. Idiot. Not waking up when she was clearly sitting there waiting for him. Wait; why the hell was she waiting for him and why was she annoyed he was asleep? He was just a friend and he was always sleeping. But then things had been happening recently, and they were closer than just friends now, weren't they? If this was Sarah or Danny, she'd have popped her head in the door to see how they were getting on and then leave again. Why was Connor so god damn different?

She was rescued from her musings by Sarah in the doorway of Connors hospital room. She had said something to Abby, but it sounded far away and unclear.

"What?"

"…Anomaly alert, you coming?"

"Wh- oh yeah, 'course."

She took one last look at Connor before following Sarah out of the hospital wing of the ARC. She barely registered getting packed up to leave or even driving to the anomaly site. The city passed in a blur of green and grey as Abby rested her forehead against the window of the van, her mind still in the hospital room, watching Connor sleep. Being out on an anomaly mission without him would be weird, too weird to fathom. He was always there to mess things up, and possibly even shoot her in the leg. Abby smiled to herself, she and Connor were the only two left who knew about that, the rest of the old team and gone, in one way or another. But that didn't mean he got to forget about it.

Suddenly the car lurched to a stop outside of a cinema. Groups of worried looking people were slowly gathering outside as the cinema employees did there best to hold them back. Abby watched as Sarah approached an official looking man standing outside the main cinema doors on his own.

"Hi…err…" she very subtly checked his name tag before continuing, "Clive. We're from animal control. What seems to be the problem?"

"Aren't the guns and armour a little heavy for animal control?" He had a broad Yorkshire accent and seemed quite dim. Abby sniggered before tuning back into the conversation.

"…just a precaution. We see some pretty big animals now and again. So if you could just tell me what happened?"

"Yes, of course, well this strange light appeared in screen four and then all these….rodent like things appeared. And as manager of this facility I told everyone to get out. There are hundreds of those things running around now!"

"Hundreds?"

"Well, maybe I've exaggerated a little, but they've moved beyond screen four now though."

"Thank you for your help Clive"

Sarah turned to the group and motioned for them to follow her in. she quietly turned to Danny and said "now wasn't that better than going in all guns blazing?" He just grunted in response before leading the group into the cinema.

Screen four wasn't hard to find from the main entrance and the group silently entered. The anomaly was flickering peacefully at the very back on the cinema screen and it lit up the whole room magnificently as the film continued to play. It was Ice Age 3. Abby smiled as she remembered how annoyed Connor had gotten that the dinosaurs we're still alive in the film, when really they shouldn't be at all. It had taken her all afternoon to remind him it was just a kid's movie and that it didn't have to follow any actual time frames.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a cry. She wheeled around the see Becker, arms wide, holding a rodent in one hand and his other shaking madly.

"The little fu…"

"Language, Becker!"

"…er bit me!"

"Let's hope they're not poisonous then. Sarah, you lock the anomaly. The rest of us'll round these things up. You alight there Abby?"

"Oh, err, yeah Danny. Fine."

"Good, start looking for rodents then"

When Clive the manger had said that there were hundreds of rodents he had indeed been exaggerating. After three hours of searching they had found ten, and no sign anymore had escaped by burrowing through any walls. The bite on Becker's hand and swollen up and turned a horrible purple colour and he kept vowing "from now on, I'm wearing gloves" along with the odd "why oh why did I ever take this job" thrown into the mix for good measure.

They slowly packed up leaving a few of Becker's men behind to watch over the anomaly, and headed back to the ARC. Abby tried her hardest not to race back to Connor's room, knowing he'd still be asleep, and instead decided to comb through his creature archive to find out if Becker was suffering from a poisonous bite.

With no clue where to start she soon got lost. Kicking the door frame in frustration, she left Connor's office to visit him in the medical bay. Praying that maybe he was finally awake and could tell her what the creature was. Danny had taken a picture of the one that bit Becker to stick up on the wall in an attempt to mock him. Stupid alpha males, Abby thought to herself, always trying to be bigger and better than each other.

As she turned into Connors room a wide smile spread across her face. He was sitting up in bed, reading a Doctor Who magazine, with half a bacon sandwich hanging out of his mouth. He turned slowly to see Abby, smiling back.

"hmm ahhs, wumph uhh"

"Con, you need to take the sandwich out first."


End file.
